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Gear up for a funny ride...here comes sequel to Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron

Many movie buffs regard it as the funniest Hindi film ever. Now, Kundan Shah is ready to make a sequel to the zany timeless comedy Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron (JBDY) featuring Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani.

Kundan says he has been toying with the idea of a sequel for some years now. The original film was released in 1983.With the passing away of Baswani, the idea seemed as good as dead. Then one heard that the sequel would feature a fresh young pair playing Naseer and Baswani’s roles.

But now Kundan says he is making the sequel with the original cast, at least partially. “No question of casting two other younger actors because the sequel would take up the story from where the first film left off. It would start 35 years later and we’d see the two photo-journalists Vinod Chopra and Sudhir Mishra coming out of prison. That’s where the sequel would begin. Sadly Ravi Baswani is not with us anymore.”

Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron ended with Naseeruddin Shah and Ravi Baswani’s characters being framed for crimes against the State that they had never committed. The sequel follows their journey after they emerge from prison 35 years later.

While Naseer is definitely reprising his own part, Kundan Shah is not sure of who would play the late Ravi Baswani’s role.

However, with the re-release of the newly-restored and revived version of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron ready to hit theatres on 2 November, Kundan Shah feels interest in the sequel would now be greater than ever.

But he disagrees about the ‘restoration’ claims of his film. “Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron has not been restored as such. That is a very difficult process.What has been done is to turn the original prints into the digital format. That by itself is a big leap forward for preserving cinema.”

Kundan says he isn’t directly involved with the conversion of his film into a digital format. “It’s a technical process. So my JBDY cinematographer Binod Pradhan has been participating with the NFDC in the conversion process.”

Now that Kundan Shah has the script of the sequel ready he would go ahead with the process of moving forward with the sequel.

Incidentally a sequel to JBDY was proposed some years ago.

Recounts Kundan, “Producer Feroz Nadiadwala commissioned it, we wrote it. Naseeruddin Shah, Ravi Baswani and I talked about it for over two years. They didn't like the script entirely. I told them if they keep Part 1 in mind we could never do JBDY 2. We were going to do part 2 because we were getting the licence to do something crazier. So what if we fail? Let's not fear failure. I was rewriting the sequel. But Ravi Baswani's death put an end to the sequel idea then. But now we’ll go ahead, sadly without Ravi.”